Filling-machine.



PATENTED AUG. 30, 1904. F. C. H. STRASBURGER.

FILLING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION IILED FEB. 6. 1904.

H0 MODEL.

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UNTTED STATES Patented August 30, 1904.

PATENT OEETcE.

FRANK C. H. STRASBURGER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BOTTLERS SPECIAL MACHINERY. COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A

CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

FILLING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 768,963, dated August 30, 1904.

Application filed February 6,1904. Serial No. 192,431. (110 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK C. H. SrRAsBUR- GER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the countyof Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Filling-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bottle-filling machines; and its object is primarily to discharge a sufiicient quantity of liquid into the bottle to fill the space occupied by the filling-tube after the bottle is removed therefrom, and thus enable the bottle to be completely filled or approximately filled, if desired. It will be understood that the pressure of the air at the bottom or discharge end of the fillingtube of valves of this description is, generally speaking, s ufficient to prevent the discharge of liquid contained in the tube after the liquidvalve is closed. Therefore when the tube is removed from the bottle an empty space will be left in the neck of the bottle corresponding approximately to the space occupied by the filling-tube in the bottle. While it is desirable to leave a space in beer-bottles to permit the beer to expand in the sterilizing process and at other times and to permit the insertion of corks and other stoppers which enter the neck of the bottle, it is also desirable to regulate the size of this space and reduce it to comparatively small proportions, especially when crown-seals and other stoppers of like character are employed, so that the bottle will not have the appearance of being only partly filled, and in this connection it may be observed that when it is said that a bottle containing a carbonated liquid is completely filled an empty space of limited size may be contemplated, and it is not necessarily meant that the bottle is filled with liquid up to the stopper, although this result may be obtained, if desired, with the present invention.

I have illustrated one way in which my invention may be embodied in the accompanying drawings, which show in other respects the filling-valve which forms the subject-matter of my application, Serial No. 185,161, filed December 1 1, 1903.

of the bottle.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows the Valves partly in section and partly in elevation. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view of the head. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail enlarged view of the upper end of the sleeve.

Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures, 1O designates the body of the filling-valve, which is secured in place in an opening in the bottom of a liquidtank 11 in any suitable manner and is provided with a central bore 12, into the lower end of which the filling-tube 13 is secured. A gasket 14 on the upper face of the body forms a seat for the liquid-valve 15, which is carried by the rods 16. Springs 17 are held by adjustable collars 18 on these rods to normally hold the liquid-valve against its seat. A head 19 is arranged on the filling-tube and is provided with openings 20 to receive the rods 16 and aseat 21 on its lower face for the mouth This head is provided with an enlarged bore 22, which communicates by a lateral passage 23 with a valve chamber 2 1, and an air-tube 25 projects into this chamber and carries a valve 26, which is designed to open and permit air to How into the bottle from the tank, but will not open to permit air to flow therethrough from the bottle to the tank. The lower end of the air tube within the air-chamber is provided with a lateral opening 27, and a set-screw 28 or other suitable device is adjustable in the head to work in or opposite to said opening, and thereby regulate the flow of air therethrough from the bottle into the tank. The upper end of the air-tube projects through the body of the filling-valve and carries a valve 29 within a housing 30 within the tank, to which is attached a tube 31, extending above the level of' the liquid in the tank, so that air may flow therethrough between the tank and the bottle. The head 19 is held normally in lowered position, as shown, with the valves 15 and 29 tightly closed by a spring 35.

As thus far described, the filling-valve is disclosed in and covered by my aforesaid application, and as an improvement thereon I provide for discharging into the bottle all or the greater part of the liquid which may be held in the tube after the liquid-valve is closed and the filling operation may be said to be, generally speaking, completed. For this purpose I provide a sleeve 36, which is secured to the head at the lower end of the enlarged bore 22 therein, and in the drawings 1 have shown this sleeve extended into said bore and cut out or otherwise provided with one or more openings 37, Fig. 5, to permit the air to flow between the bottle and the tank. The sleeve maybe thus secured, to the head by solder, or these parts may be secured together in any other suitable manner. The sleeve and the filling-tube are provided with ports 38 39 on opposite sides thereof and just beneath the seat 21, and these ports register when the valves 15 and 29 are closed and the head is in its lowered position, as shown in the drawings.

The operation oi my improved filling-valve is as follows: The liquid-valve 15 and the airvalves 26 and 29 are normally closed; but when a bottle 40 is clamped in filling position and caused to move the head upward against the tension of the spring 35 the airvalve 39 will first be unseated to permit an equalization of the pressure in the tank and bottle before the liquid-valve is unseated by the engagement of the head with the collars 18. At the same time the sleeve is carried upward with the head, so that the ports 38 will be out of register with the ports 39 in the filling-tube. As before stated, the air which is forced out of the bottle by the liquid flowing therein cannot pass through the valve 26, but passes tlilrough the opening 27, and the flow is regulated by the set-screw 28,

as desired, so that the pressure in the bottle i will be maintained to a sufficient extent to prevent the beer from being forcibly discharged trom the filling-tube into the bottle. After the filling operation as thus conducted is completed the bottle is moved downward on the lilling-tube, the valves 15 and 29 are seated, and the ports register again, and thus the air is permitted to enter the filling-tubes through said ports while the bottle is being taken off of the tube and the beer in the tube is permitted to flow into the bottle to till the space previously occupied by the tube.

It will be observed that so far as the invention is concerned it is wholly immaterial whether the bottle is moved up into filling position on the filling-tube or the filling-tube is moved down into the bottle, for in either case the operation of the invention would be the same.

It the ports 39 are located in the filling-tube close to the seat 21, with which the mouth of the bottle engages, and the ports 38 are correspondingly located in the sleeve, the quantity of liquid held in the tube below the ports will be sutlicient to approximately lill the bottle to the extent that it would otherwise be left empty by reason of the tube beingin the bottle during the filling operation, and by loeating the ports lower down in the tube and sleeve the quantity of liquid discharged. from the filling-tube after the liquid-valve is closed may be correspondingly reduced. In this way the bottle may be to all intents and purposes completely filled, or an empty space of greater or less proportion may be left in the neck of the bottle, as desired, by changing the location of the ports in the tube and sleeve.

Without limiting myself to the exact construction and arrangement of parts herein shown and described, what I claim, and. desire to.secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A filling-valve for bottling-machines comprising a liquid-valve and a sleeve slidable on the filling-tube for operating it. a lillingtube provided with a port in its side, and means for closing said port when the fillingvalve is open and provided with a port in its side to register with said port in the fillingtube when the filling-valve is closed.

2. A filling-Valve for bottling-machines comprising a liquid-valve, a filling-tube provided with a port in its side, a sleeve slidable on said filling-tube and provided with a port to register with the port in the filling-tube when the liquid-valve is closed, and means for causing the sleeve to slide on the tube to carry the port therein out of register with the port in, the filling-tube while the liquid-valve is open.

3. A filling-valve for bottling-machines comprising a liquid-valve, a filling-tube provided with a port in its side, a head connected with the liquid-valve and slidable on the lilling-tube and adapted to be operated by the bottle to open said valve, and a sleeve carried on the filling-tube by said head and provided with a port in its side to register with the port in the filling-tube when the liquid-valve is closed.

4. The combination with a liquid-tank of a filling-valve connected therewith and comprising a liquid-valve, a filling-tube provided with a port in its side, a head connected to said liquid-valve and provided with an enlarged bore to receive the filling-tube, a'valved air connection between said bore and the tank to provide communication between the tank and the bottle, a sleeve carried by the head on the [illing-tube and provided with a port to register with the port in the filling-tube when the liquid-valve is closed, and an opening in a sleeve to provide'a communication between said bore in the head and the bottle.

FRANK C. H. STRASBURGER.

Witnesses:

LENORE HoRAN, M. 0. BELT. 

